Jayanth and Ganesh, the kumkis (trained elephants) at the Naniyala elephant camp near Kuppam, are a source of big relief to farmers and forest officials, whenever the crop-raiding wild herds of jumbos try to have a brush with human habitations.
The robust adult kumkis have been the prized possession of the department during the last one and a half decades, having successfully accomplished many a tough task of driving away the wild herds.
While Jayanth was captured in the Kuppam forests, Vinayak was picked up from Tirumala forests. The duo is a big attraction to the farmers and nature lovers as well while passing through the elephant camp. Closer to each other, the mahouts never saw them fighting.
During the last one decade, the duo had jointly accomplished over thirty operations of driving back the wild elephants into the forests of T.N. and Karnataka. There were occasions when the kumkis had blocked the advance of the raging herds towards human habitations.
Forest watchers and trackers on the job along with the kumkies say that the duo were very intelligent and they did not require any additional directions. Last year, the kumkis could successfully bind over a killer elephant at Ramasamudram mandal, after a week-long operation. The elephant, which strayed from Karnataka, killed a farmer and went on the rampage damaging crops.
In July last, the duo could drive away a herd of about 20 elephants from fields in Yerravaripalem mandal back into the Seshachalam reserve, after a month long operation.
Forest Range Officer (Kuppam) Kalappa Naidu said that the duo were given thorough training in special operations dealing with wild herds. “We have four mahouts from T.N. and Kerala looking after the duo. During all these years, the workers have never faced any difficulty with the kumkis ,” he said.
